I have worked in financial services for over 30 years and I believe the financial services sector is profoundly important for the wellbeing of society and the
world economy – I am a huge fan of the sector and what it does, when it is behaving properly.

However, over a long period of time I had been getting increasingly concerned by malpractice in the sector that ends up with bad publicity in the newspapers and on the TV. Poor behaviour by a few
people and organisations results in a tarnished reputation for the industry as a whole; and it's a shame to admit it but there is some malpractice that is industry-wide.

The self-inflicted reputational damage the industry has been suffering manifests in many ways – a lack of engagement, a lack of trust and much lower levels of saving, investing and insurance than
there should be.

For example, in the UK we have the lowest level of savings since 1963. This is systemic and structural problem that needs fixing, especially as it leads to
poor outcomes for consumers.

I decided to try to ‘do my little bit’ by focusing on encouraging the sector to behave in a more trustworthy way in the belief that greater transparency can lead to greater
trustworthiness.

Since my very first Transparency Task Force meeting on 6th May 2015 at Senate House, London University and without any backing I have been building an international community of like-minded people
who are working together to encourage positive behavioural change in the market.

Since starting all this it has become crystal clear to me that there is much wrong in financial services that desperately
needs fixing so bit by bit, one person at a time, I have been establishing a collaborative,
campaigning community that is working together to drive behavioural change for the benefit of all including market participants that want to serve the market professionally and
ethically.

Here are the sorts of issues we face:

The Trust Deficit

The Engagement Deficit

The Understanding Deficit

Conflicts of interest

Regulatory capture

Hidden costs

Hidden risks

Opportunistic opacity

Opportunistic obfuscation

Opportunistic complexity

Vested interests

Short-termism

Scalping

Inadequate client-centricity

Skewed incentives

Asymmetries of information

Scams and scandals

Gouging

Rent extraction

Malpractice

Malfeasance

Egregious abuses

Reputational damage

Contrived complexity; and so on.

In the UK, even right-of-centre politicians have been expressing a need for the interests of the consumer to be put ahead of the needs of the City; for the sake of
the consumer and the long-term interests of the City.

Furthermore, consensus has been forming that ‘transparency’ is far more than just a powerful watchword; it was a zeitgeist
that could drive the change that the consumer deserves and the reputation of the sector desperately needs.

The Transparency Task Force is the collaborative, campaigning community dedicated to driving up the levels of transparency in finacial services, right
around the world.

There are now over 250 people involved and they are organised and mobilised into teams.